The Guru Nation Blog

We are halfway through a generational change in senior leadership explains Guru John Beeson, President Beeson Consulting. This shift and subsequent war for talent, however, is largely masked at the moment by the economic downturn. However, the search for leadership will become more readily apparent as we ascend out of the economic doldrums. So, you query, if I want to be a contender, what must I do? Are there 10 characteristics of good leadership, for example, that everyone in the queue should follow? What develops senior leaders? What serves as the foundation for moving forward successfully?

Here’s the roadmap on the 10 characteristics of good leadership:
The general headline is this: senior leaders are born from rich careers in which they have a variety of assignments and consequently a broad perspective; which is contrary to what happens organically in most companies not skilled in developing leaders internally. The road more frequently traveled  is one in which people tend to come up through one functional area of the company. This marks a philosophical misunderstanding of leadership development. John Beeson explains that the troubling trend inside of companies is for promotions to seem arbitrary and political. Moreover, HR is frequently discouraged by a lack of C- suite talent. One of the predominant causes of this trend is an aversion to delivering constructive criticism, as John titles it, “feedback that counts.” So the first of the 10 characteristics of good leadership is the ability and drive to solicit this feedback that counts. As in to find out candidly from the decision makers, “If I want to get to the next level, what do I need to do?”

The second is a track record of performance. Lets face it, to become a leader you need to merit the responsibility and to stand out as a top performer. The third in the 10 characteristics of good leadership is this:  ethics, integrity and character. Do not let your personal agenda get ahead of that of the business. Seek to align the two. The fourth and fifth require you to be aware of derailers; factors that could result in your being “de-selected.” These factors include insensitivity to others which results in loose loyalties and is evidence of weak interpersonal skills; and secondly, a narrow, parochial, perspective on business.

A capacity for innovation and change is essential to leadership and is therefore number six in the dissection of the 10 characteristics of good leadership. Seventh is the capacity for strategic thinking; the ability to connect the dots. Eighth is the talent for selecting a good team which leads directly to number nine: implementation. This is the ability to “get the wash out the door.” Can you delegate and work well with your team to produce results? The ninth characteristic is lateral management; the skill to get things done within your organization; to manage bureaucracy and coordinate well with other departments. The tenth seems obvious but may also prove the most challenging. It is the capacity to grow and develop as a leader; to adapt and to change.

Some argue it’s politics that launch leaders forward but in fact, there is a “method to the madness” for identification and promotion deeply rooted in these 10 characteristics of good leadership. John Beeson’s Guru Nation interview called Decoding the Unwritten Rules of Corporate Advancement (see archives from April 2009) decodes in more depth and discusses these 10 characteristics of good leadership from his vantage point as a specialist in succession planning.

Here’s the big issue on the table! Too many people over-manage and under-lead. It happens because there isn’t enough clarity on leadership versus management.

It’s confusing because most leaders want to solve problems, provide choices, find answers, and avoid a lack of clarity. In reality, they should re-visit their leadership versus management approach and challenge others to find solutions, ask teams to provide effective choices, encourage employees to find answers, and delegate authority to establish clear direction.

The leadership versus management concept gives a leader the opportunity to create a development plan for every person on the team. Each person’s development should not be arbitrary. With a mindset of “which employee could benefit most from this assignment?” as a process for grooming, a leader can in fact “lead” someone to higher productivity and capability versus manage the task for them. The process also requires proper briefing, so your team doesn’t mis-understand you intentions. No one should feel you’re handing off work just because you don’t have time for it!

The debate goes on. Judith Glaser in her book Creating We and Cy Wakeman, (executive coach) in her recent interview on The Guru Nation both addressed tenets of leadership versus management. Judith discussed lowering the bar to get greater performance from certain employees instead of trying to manage things for them, and encouraging “we” conversations that create collaborative leadership. Cy Wakeman suggested that over-managing and under-leading was a tendency all too familiar in most companies because managers learn “to do” or “to tell” versus learning “to ask” or “to acknowledge.”  Both women argue quite passionately that leadership versus management is about calling your employees to a standard of excellence, holding them accountable for great achievement, and supporting them to find meaningful engagement.

At the most recent Global Athenaeum summit in New York, futurist Edie Weiner asked her audience “what is leadership?” and suggested that the answer could be found in the common threads between Mother Teresa and Adolph Hitler.  She boldly told her audience that in researching what leadership actually was, and how we could define it, she was able to answer the “what is leadership?” inquiry by studying the three things Hitler and Mother Teresa had in common.

Here are the three things Edie saw:

1.    A strong, unwavering vision and an extreme passion for that vision
2.    An ability, in words and deeds, to articulate the vision so passionately that the “dis-interested” would follow
3.    A commitment so strong that there is absolutely no embarrassment about the vision

The “what is leadership?” question is more specifically broken down into five key challenges now on the table for effective 21st century leaders.
Here is a summary of the “commandments” that Edie Weiner spoke about:

1.    Take the lead from those at all levels of the organization and outside of the organization. Leadership requires listening, and often to voices
within the organization, not just atop it. When we ask for ideas from the “trenches” we are challenging people to be more creative and find solutions.

2.    Place emphasis and value on integrity over quality. When the leader of the organization insists on integrity and fair dealings with all stakeholders, quality and commitment become the natural and desired end product.

3.     Value intangibles. When too much emphasis is put on a balance sheet, we forget to calibrate the value of ideas, reputation, knowledge, time.

4.    Move from mankind to mind-kind. Focus your organization on re-thinking opportunity, and direct your efforts from input to output.

5.    Respect the earth. Leadership will require a new focus on preserving the land and the planet, not raping it. There is no integrity in depleting the world.

As leadership continues to be the subject of books, articles, and classroom debate, the what is leadership core will circle back to A guardianship view of the world, a new view to collaboration versus top-down leadership, and an inspired vision to preserve and respect the natural resources that surround us.